is it ok to hold a parking space for someone else by standing in it

whether right or wrong it seems a slightly dangerous idea to do this in the US, lots of fatal gun violence seems to be sparked off by parking space disputes.

Now I'm curious about Dr. Bovine-L'ardeux

pay attention!

🖼

you can do that in DC, but not NYC

Idk this kinda has a self-limited mechanism already baked in, if you’re doing this it’s only going to be for a few minutes at most, not like half and hour. And it would be way less annoying and more amusing to witness than when people stop and put their hazards on when they see people getting into their car so they can signal “MINE MINE MINE THIS IS MINE” and block everyone

Is the moving van scenario one where there are lots of other spots available nearby, but you really need this specific one? In that case, maybe. Your shooing should be appropriately apologetic. And also, if the other car has even a minimal reason to prefer this spot, then imo that minimal reason may be enough outweigh your strong reason.

If it's the only spot left nearby, then moving vans get no special privileges.

as a person who doesn't normally have a car, but sometimes moves, fuck that shit tbqh

tangentially related but two weeks ago I was unloading some stuff from my van and put my lawnmower down on the ground behind it while i was sorting things out. then I went to the side door to grab something and while i was rummaging around i heard this horrible crunch. i looked back someone was parking their BMW right on top of it. there were like three empty spaces behind me too. kinda funny in hindsight i suppose, I was stood on the pavement helplessly doing this involuntary hands-raised, mouth-agog, wild-eyed, whatthefuckareyoudoing!?! crazy-man type of gesture. and the driver was just looking at me going 'well i didn't see it!' and doing the upturned palms shruggy thing. i am not good in those stressful situations though, I started getting tearful and that made the driver get tearful too and then we hugged and chatted and made friends and then I had to go and buy a new lawnmower.

My car's alternator died in the right-turn lane during rush hour. People kept lining up behind it and honking at it when it wouldn't turn, even though no brake lights or turning indicators were on (and I was watching from a nearby store, waiting on a friend.)

So I found a sidewalk sign for an upcoming Art Walk and placed it behind my car. No more honking! People now saw the sign as the obstacle, not the car.

Which explains why while the cops never stopped (which was a relief), it was a truck with yellow lights from the city's sign department that finally showed up and helped push me into a parking lot.

Park in the middle of the street? Whatever. Mess with one of those sidewalk signs? Someone's going to get to the bottom of this!